November 18: A fine knock of 69 by Vivek Deshmukh helped Maharashtra score a comfortable 226 for the loss of seven wickets at the close of the first day of the under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy match against hosts, Mumbai, at the Elf Vengsarkar Ground, today.

Maharashtra made a dismal start after winning the toss and electing to bat. Opener Sachin Aradhye was castled by Zahir Khan off the very first delivery of the day. The other opening batsmen, Dhiraj Jadhav, also went in similar fashion, but off Sriram Kanan.

Rizwan Anwar scored a quick 20 (1x4) before he was yorked by Zahir Khan. At 74 for three, Mumbai had a good hold over the match. But a timely 85-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Deshmukh and captain Kaushik Aphale (35, 6x4) saw Maharashtra come out of the rough weather.

Left-arm spinner Kunal More got the important breakthrough for Mumbai when he had Deshmukh leg before wicket. Aphale followed soon after when he was caught behind by wicketkeeper Abhijit Shetye while trying to meddle a Kanan delivery outside off-stump. At tea, the score read 183 for five.

That Maharashtra were able to reach 200 and see the day through was due to a fine knock by Sagar Bharude. Bharude mixed his stroke's well, playing intelligent shots and punishing any loose deliveries that came his way. His innings of 39 included six boundaries. At stumps, Bharude was accompanied by Mahendra Khude (0).

SCOREBOARD

MAHARASHTRA (Ist innings): Sachin Aradhye b Zahir Khan 0, Dhiraj Jadhav b Sriram Kanan 21, Vivek Deshmukh lbw b Kunal More 69, Rizwan Anwar b Zahir Khan 20, Kaushik Aphale c Abhijit Shetye b Kanan 34, Vedant Patwardhan c Tej Mankar b Abhishek Jaywant 17, Sagar Bhargude batting 39, Kapil Lagate run out (Yogesh Kandhare) 5, Mahendra Khude batting 0. Extras (1b, 10lb, 2w, 8nb) 21. Total (for loss of seven wickets) 226

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Aradhye), 2-49 (Jadhav), 3-74 (Anwar), 4-159 (Deshmukh), 5-159 (Aphale), 6-211 (Patwardhan), 7-226 (Lagate)

Bowling: Zahir 22-8-36-2, Kanan 17-3-48-2, Kandhare 4-0-17-0, Jaywant 23-5-53-1, Kulkarni 6-0-20-0, More 17-5-38-0, Pushkaraj 1-0-4-0

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.